We caught up with FMD's Albert Heuberger to discuss semiconductor packaging and heterogeneous system integration technologies that improve the computing power and energy efficiency of electronic systems.
www.eetimes.eu/, May. 08, 2024 –
As executive director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) and chairman of the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD), Albert Heuberger sits at the forefront of applied research in Germany. Fraunhofer ISS is one of the 13 institutes that make up FMD. Each contributes expertise and infrastructure to develop new technologies and techniques ready for industrial use.
We caught up with Heuberger to discuss semiconductor packaging and heterogeneous system integration technologies that improve the computing power and energy efficiency of electronic systems.
EE Times Europe: What applications are driving change in the semiconductor industry today and in the near future?
Albert Heuberger: AI and machine learning–and the increasingly connected and digitalized world–are driving an ever-growing need for computing power. One of the big challenges is that Moore's law, which has driven progress for the last 50 years, may reach its physical and economic-scale limits in a few years.
The only way we can meet these demands is if we find new ways of improving overall semiconductor performance. At the same time, we need to keep production costs down. The implication is that disruptive technologies and design approaches must be pursued to keep improving today's computing power at the rate demanded by applications.